Starting a business is always a big step. The amount of work and planning and good fortune and money it takes to start any business at all is usually staggering for any person.
Superior’s Just in Time Barber Academy opened recently, and it’s the latest big step forward for owner Ta-Raj Benness, who has dramatically changed his life’s path from the one that once led him to prison to the one he’s on now.
“I originally started in the Twin Cities area,” Benness said. “I originally did a lot of time in prison” – he was convicted of second-degree murder in 2005 – “and when I came home, I just knew I wanted to have my own business. I thought it was going to be just solely a barbershop until I got into the field and I started learning more, experiencing more. And I said, ‘you know, I’ll be a better fit as a teacher as opposed to being behind a chair.’”
A mentor of his suggested Duluth as being a good spot for a barber school. “At this time in my life, I’m an empty-nester, and my wife and I just stepped out on faith and came here and got it going.”
“I came up and I fell in love with the city right away,” Benness said. “I’ve been [in Minnesota] most of my life, and I never went this far up north. I felt like I was in a different state. I was searching for a place for the school, and I kept running into doors just slamming in my face. I was like, wow, this is difficult. So I prayed about it, and luckily enough, the guy who owns the building – the Board of Trade building (in Superior) – gave me a shot. I didn’t want any investors or anything. I just saved money. I didn’t want to wait. I just wanted to get the ball rolling. That’s normally what I do – I just go for it, you know?”
Benness first learned how to cut hair during his time in prison. “I had absolutely no experience, had no desire to be a barber,” he said. “I was always infatuated with a really good haircut – the blend, the lineup, things like that. Inside of prison, I’d practice on my cellie’s head. That’s how I started.”
Before long, Benness decided to try and get a job in the prison’s barber shop. “That’s risky business, there,” he said. “Those guys take their haircuts seriously. But I tried it and got good at it, and I enjoyed it. It’s like I found my purpose.”
Taking that experience and coupling it with his desire to work as an ordained minister and also to sell apparel led to his first venture post-prison at something he called Speak Life Barber Shop.
Then, another challenge presented itself. “Unfortunately,” Benness said, “I was in a really bad car accident. I was down for a year. I ended up having to close the shop down.”
Multiple surgeries later, he opened another Speak Life in Osseo, and that shop is still in operation.
It’s the sort of challenge that Benness has gotten used to facing in his life. His determination, though, is a key feature of his personality.
“I just had to keep going,” he said. “I just couldn’t stop. I’ve faced adversity my whole life.”
For him, his faith leads the way. “I’m a born-again Christian,” he said. “I gave my life to the Lord when I was first arrested. I can’t take credit for anything.”
Rather than running from his past, Benness speaks about it openly. He’s written books that talk about his experiences, and the name of his latest venture has its roots in his time on the inside.
“The name came from a guy I was in prison with,” he explained. “He was an older guy, and, the way he did his time, he just made up stories. And one of the stories was that he had a store in Milwaukee that was called Just in Time. And we all knew it didn’t exist. He just wanted to tell stories. But I loved the name. And I said, ‘hey, you mind if I use that name if I ever start a business?’ And he didn’t mind.”
Benness looks forward to seeing students come from all over to learn the basics of barbering from him.
“They can get licensed through my program,” he said. “It’s all just basic barbering. I’m teaching them everything that I know. I’ve run into a lot of bad barbers, so I know there’s a need for some really good barbers.”
When they graduate, Benness said that the newly-minted barbers will have a lot of options. “After this, they have to continue on with their career, whether that be in a salon, a shop or them starting their own businesses, whatever that is. This is a starting point for them.”
“I’m gonna give them everything I got,” Benness said. “I’m gonna teach them all the tricks that I know. You never get to a point where you know it all, but I definitely want to get them off to a good start.”
Benness’ wife, Patricia, is a crucial part of Just in Time. She has a long history with her husband that goes back to when they were just young kids in Indiana, and she truly believes in him and has done so even through his biggest challenges.
“He wants to be a good man,” she said. “A man that provides and is established. It was confusing growing up, because of where we were from and the lack of what we had. But he turned it around. He’s driven by what he knows now that he couldn’t apply, back then.”
These qualities shone through so strongly for Patricia that she decided to marry him after his incarceration. The two even shared their vows over the telephone. “He showed me what he was before he went in,” she said. “He was the only man that I knew that had the potential that he had before he went in. I believed that it was a connection I couldn’t ignore. So I trusted that.”
Today, she’s side by side with her husband as the two embark on this new journey together. “I do the background work,” she explained, “like, all the paperwork or anything that takes away from him to apply what he needs to apply in the foreground – the way it looks, the professionalism of it all, focusing on teaching the students.”
Moving to the Northland has been a major change for the couple, but they’re enjoying it so far. “I hate change,” Patricia said. But she trusted her husband’s instincts. “It was stepping out on faith. So far, I like Duluth. I love the water.”
“I have high hopes,” Patricia said of her expectations for Just in Time. “With the opening and the students that I’ve met so far, I’m so excited. It’s a great thing to be a part of. It’s a legacy – you get to send people out with what you taught them, and that’s a part of you out there. This is a great thing for [Ta-Raj] to give back, a great way for us to give back to society from what he has taken.”
“She’s my rock,” Ta-Raj said of Patricia. “I couldn’t have done it without her.”
Tony Bennett is a Duluth-based freelance writer.
